(Continued from the Feb. 18 issue.)

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A cannon ball from that exchange is visible to this day, embedded in a column of the Lafayette County court house.

Yards away from the College is the Anderson House, a stately manor used as a Union hospital easily taken by the Militia. With the sick and wounded from both sides soon filling the corridors, the militia started using the second floor windows as a perfect perch to snipe at the enemy.

Colonel Mulligan was incensed, “that violates the Laws of War,” he proclaimed and ordered an assault to take the hospital back.

Bugler George Palmer and 40 others left the cover of their positions, under heavy fire, they charged the back of the Anderson House, gaining entrance to the first floor. There was one main staircase to the second level where the snipers were positioned. No one wanted to lead the charge up the stairs … until George volunteered. He killed two men on his climb up before breaking down a second story door with comrades right behind, capturing four others.

On Sept. 18, 1861, for those actions, Union musician George Palmer earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Counterattacks forced the Yankees to abandon the Anderson House, repositioning themselves back to their formidable defenses in the bluffs. Storming the college would now be difficult and costly for the militia.

Then, soldiers in Brigadier General Thomas Harris’s division got the idea to use hemp bales from a local warehouse as rolling fortifications. They discovered soaking the bales in Missouri River water the night before made them impenetrable. It was a life-saving idea, men from other divisions joined in deploying the rolling barricade lower on the bluff encircling much of the enemy’s higher defenses.

After soaking them on Sept. 19, the army rolled them out the very next morning. By noon, the outgunned and outmaneuvered Union force — low on ammunition and out of water — surrendered to General Price. The Battle of the Hemp Bales was over.

Mulligan oversaw his 3,500strong Illinois regiment stack their arms unconditionally. Price was impressed with his demeanor and respect for the “Rules of War.”

Considering the casualty count, this was a minor battle understanding what was to come. For the Union, 36 killed, 117 wounded, 8 missing and 3,000 captured. In the Missouri State Militia, 30 killed and 120 wounded. Casualties were light partly due to Mulligan’s wellconstructed defenses and Harris’ genius use of the hemp bales.

As stated, Sterling Price was a man of principle, very conflicted about waging war in his own state.

The militia commander granted all surrendered Union soldiers a general parole. In the end some soldiers were exchanged for militia members taken prisoner after the riots in St. Louis months earlier. Others found their way back into army service.

After that benevolent act between men that lived by a military code, one day later on Sept. 21, men of opposite character took advantage of the vacuum Price’s Army left.

Just 90 miles south of Lexington in Osceola, Missouri, one of the larger towns in the state. The city was ransacked and torched with 800 buildings being set ablaze by Jim Lane and his band of drunken lawless Jayhawks.

In war, noble acts rarely go rewarded.